President Yoweri Museveni has received and held a meeting with Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Tooro Kingdom and his delegation that included among others the Omukama’s mother Best Kemigisa several Kingdom Mministers and other senior Kingdom officials. The meeting took place last evening at the President’s country home in Rwakitura, Kiruhuura district.

The President, Omukama Oyo and his delegation discussed a number of issues related to how the Government of Uganda and the leadership of the Kingdom of Tooro can work together to empower the people of Tooro to overcome household poverty to which both President Museveni and Omukama Oyo concurred was the major problem in Tooro Kingdom and Uganda in general.

President Museveni told King Oyo and his delegation that all leaders at all levels need to take the message of fighting poverty seriously. He said that emphasis needs to be put on educating the masses to do away with subsistence agriculture and engage in modern agriculture that, he said, should be profit-oriented.

He noted that one of the major problems, especially in the rural areas of Uganda, was enterprise selection where people with small land holdings, as a result of land fragmentation, continue the cultivation of low value agricultural crops maize or even keep traditional breeds of animals with low economic returns that lead to their earning less income on small land-holdings.

President Museveni told King Oyo and his delegation to join him in sensitizing the population about the danger posed by land fragmentation. He said that the negative backward practice is likely to turn into a national crisis if it is not handled now.

“Land fragmentation will be a national crisis if we don’t stop it now. We don’t want to legislate about it like some countries but we have to educate the population on the eminent danger and halt it,” he said.

Omukama Oyo, who earlier had visited a number of model farms in Masaka and Kiruhuura districts on his way to Rwakitura, commended the President for his endless efforts in fighting poverty in the country. He hailed the existing level of cooperation between the Central Government and the Kingdom of Tooro which, he said, was warm and mutually beneficial.

The Omukama further said that the leadership of Tooro Kingdom had joined the government efforts in the fight against poverty and also supplemented government efforts in health, education, the fight against HIV/AIDS and provision of clean water, among others.